Bay Area home sales tumble in February

The San Francisco Bay Area’s residential real estate market appeared to cool off in February.

Home sales fell slightly compared to January, but dropped sharply compared to February 2014. Last month, the region experienced the lowest number of total February sales in seven years, according to CoreLogic DataQuick data

In the nine-county Bay Area, 4,376 new and existing houses and condos sold were in February 2015. That’s 1.1 percent less than the 4,423 sales in January 2015, but down 10.9 percent year over year. There were 4,911 sales in February 2014, according to the firm’s data.

That makes February’s total sales the lowest for that month since February 2008, when 3,989 homes sold.

February home sales reached their peak level in 2002, when 8,901 homes sold.

The median price for a Bay Area home was $565,000 in February 2015.

That’s 1.2 percent less than what that figure was in January, $572,000, and up 4.6 percent compared to February 2014. Then, the median price was $540,000.

“February is always a bit odd from a numbers standpoint. March should provide a better view of emerging trends this year,” said Andrew LePage, a CoreLogic DataQuick data analyst.

“That said, it is easy to see that supply is still constrained. It’s also clear the mortgage market remains off-kilter,” LePage added.

“Home loans are readily available for those who have good credit, a W-2 income and who are applying for a government-backed mortgage,” he said. “But it can still be challenging for others, such as the self-employed and retired, even for those with a high income or significant assets, or both.”